Typically, interior walls of houses and other types of buildings are composed of a product commonly referred to as drywall. Drywall has largely replaced the use of plaster and lathing to provide a finished surface for walls. Drywall is made in sheets that are approximately four feet by eight feet in size. These sheets are attached to wood or metal frames to form interior walls. After installation, joints or seams are created between each sheet of drywall, necessitating the need to cover the seams with a compound that will make the wall look as if it is a seamless flat surface of the type once obtained using plaster and lathing construction. Generally, the compound is a water based material that is applied wet to the drywall to fill in any gaps and smooth out the seams between the drywall sheets. Once dry, the compound is sanded smooth and, generally, after repeated applications of the compound and sanding, the seams between the drywall sheets are unnoticeable.
In an average sized house, sanding the compound smooth is often labor intensive and time consuming. The procedure usually involves repeated applications of the compound and sanding before a finished wall is obtained and ready for painting or wallpaper. During this process, a sanding tool having a sanding surface is used. Generally, sand paper or a sanding sponge is used as the sanding surface. Whether sand paper or a sanding sponge is used, the sanding surface is worn away and must, therefore, be replaced in order to complete the job. Some of the commercially available sanding sponges have sanding abrasive on more than one surface. However, current sanding tools take advantage of only one of these surfaces due to the method of attachment of the sponge to the sanding tool. The use of only one sanding surface increases the cost of performing the job due to the increased number of sponges needed to do the work.
Additionally, many of the tools devised to hold sand paper and sponges require significant amounts of time to remove the old paper or sponge and replace it with new paper or sponge. The time it takes to change the sponge decreases the efficiency of the person performing the sanding, thereby increasing the cost of performing the job.
Another problem with currently available sanding tools is that they often require a specific type of sanding sponge that fits only that particular sanding tool. This arrangement also increases the cost of sanding the drywall.
Still other sanding tools are awkward to use because they do not provide the user with a full range of motion about a 360 degree area making it difficult to sand in a circular motion or a side-to-side motion.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a drywall sanding tool that overcomes these and other disadvantages.